It is well known to provide ballast regulating machines to regulate the distribution and shaping of ballast on a railroad track bed. The apparatus of the present invention utilizes a plurality of assemblies mounted to a frame which is propelled along the track on track-engaging wheels which are driven by a motor carried on the frame. The ballast regulating apparatus includes a forward V-shaped plow which is mounted at the forward end of the frame to shape the ballast which has been deposited between the tracks of the railroad bed. The V-shaped plow also directs ballast from between the tracks to the shoulders of the bed. A pair of ballast wings are mounted (one on each side) on the frame to follow the V-shaped forward plow and to distribute and shape the ballast on the shoulders of the track bed. A final "clean-up" stage of the operation is provided by a track-cleaning apparatus which is comprised of a horizontally mounted rotatable broom assembly and a ballast deflector assembly. The broom sweeps the tracks to remove ballast therefrom and "throws" the swept ballast against a baffle in the deflector assembly which deflects the "thrown" ballast to the outside (shoulder) of the tracks. The baffle is simple in construction and includes a pair of surfaces which are mounted at substantially 45.degree. to the axis of the machine so that ballast may impinge on these surfaces and be directed (at substantially 45.degree. therefrom) to the shoulders of the railroad bed.
Typical ballast deflectors (as shown in FIG. 6) include a plurality of baffle plates which are mounted in the deflector assembly in spaced parallel relation with a central V-shaped baffle formed by a pair of baffle plates which are angled outwardly from an apex disposed at the forward portion of the deflector. It should be noted that ballast that is rearwardly propelled by the broom normally bounces back and forth between the baffle plates, and a substantial amount of rock falls back onto the track and track bed and must be again cleaned off. Applicant's baffle structure eliminates such shortcomings by utilizing a baffle which provides only a single pair of surfaces on each side of the axis of the deflector to deflect the rocks at substantially 45.degree. and onto the bed shoulder. There are no additional intermediate baffle members which may intercept the moving rock once the rock has bounced off the baffle surfaces.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a ballast removal apparatus which removes ballast from and in between the tracks of a railroad bed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such ballast removal apparatus with means for directing the ballast removal from and in between the tracks to the shoulders of the railroad bed.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide such ballast removal apparatus with sweeping means which sweeps and propels the ballast on and between the tracks rearwardly of the ballast regulator machine.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such ballast removal apparatus with a deflector assembly in which a single baffle directs the rearwardly propelled ballast to the shoulders in unimpeded fashion.